Thursday, May 10, 2007

After all my griping about the hazards of remodeling I'm peppy and cheerful this week with a list of good things about my new "How Did I Ever Live Without It?" Kitchen--and let me tell you I'm getting pretty close to some good old-fashioned idolatry here. I love it.

1. My drawers work. This may seem odd but my old ones were so rank, so battered, so bereft of everything a good drawer should be that I'm ecstatic over the new ones. The tracks had come loose so many times and I'd put them back on so many times that there was nothing left of the particle board to anchor the wheels on.

2. And not only do they work but I now have Super Glide-Stop Action. You can slam these babies and still they softly come to a halt just before they close and then quietly and oh-so-silently shut. Ha! It feels so luxurious that I just stand there, closing the drawers over and over in exhilaration. You must see the video:

3. No hot chocolate stains on my cabinets. Yes I do love hot chocolate and what's a kitchen without hot chocolate drips speckling the wood work? *Sniff* I'll get over it somehow.

4. I got to pick the color myself. And I actually chose something that wasn't a neutral. I'm a color whimp but this time I wanted BOLD! DARING! DRAMA! And I got it. It's called "Sundried Tomato." Beautiful isn't it? Grace says she can smell tomatoes every time she walks in the room. (That's a good thing).

5. Sleek handle pulls. If a handle pull can be sexy, this one's it. Soft, slightly curved, just beautiful! I can't help but caress it each time I pull a drawer out. Ooooh! The thrill!

6. An unstained counter top. Once again, I'm going to miss those little guys. The black marks on my butcher block top were like my own little personal Rorshach test to keep me company while I cooked. *Sniff.* Somehow I'll get by.

7. My Star Trek chandelier. It was here when we moved in and it so didn't fit anything else in the 1970s interior. Let's see . . . rock fireplace . . . vintage cabinets . . . vinyl flooring . . . whacked out sci-fi lighting fixture. But now that the rest of my kitchen looks sleek and modern this oddball decorating detail might actually work. For now at least. It's still rather odd and can shock visitors when lit.

8. My ceiling beam. Before it was just a plain old ugly white beam blocking the view to my ugly florescent light. But now it's an "Architectural Detail" and is beautiful. Hope I didn't go too crazy with my new-found color craze.

9. A sprayer that works. Old one didn't. This one could put out a fire at twenty feet or fill a bathtub in under twenty seconds (at least I bet it could, I'll have to put it to the test). "Holy Water Pressure, Batman!"

10. There aren't mouse holes. I know every home owner wants to be kind our little rodent friends but I've closed the hotel and they can't come in.

11. New insulation. Warmer and toastier for me and my toes. In Alaska that means something.

12. My new pans, knives, mixing bowls and cutting boards. Getting a new kitchen was a good excuse to get new equipment. After 15 years of use the tools were getting a little worn but now I'm back in business.

13. My new induction cook top. Worthy of a whole post. It just doesn't get any cooler than this. Or hotter for that matter. You'll probably be hearing more about this later, I don't think I'll be able to keep quiet about it.

Despite a few of my facetious gripes last week (because everyone knows remodeling is a nasty business) overall I've been pleased with all of the contractors and the work that has been done and would recommend these businesses to anyone interested in their own remodel.

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Only a few days left for entering May's Write-Away Contest. The topic is travel and there haven't been as many entries as in past months. This means your odds are even better of taking home some Alaskan chocolate so what are you waiting for? The deadline is May 14th.

Enjoy your lovely, new kitchen. It looks great and colour is good. I like the warm wood cabinets.Kitchens are where we spend so much time and everyone seems to somehow gravitate toward it, so it's well worth all the effort.Happy cooking!

Ah, sexy handle pulls and hydraulic drawers? What's not to love in this kitchen I wonder?Actually, I am seething with envy and will quickly move up the list to coveting your new kitchen.I should well post about mine sometime. The kitchen in a Dutch house is a wonder to behold!Congrats on a completed remodel!

(sorry, I pulled my first comment out because I didn't proof it carefully and there were far too many misspellings within it, including the word Dutch. And somehow that kind of mistake just doesn't seem acceptable)

I know when we moved into our new home I wandered my kitchen endlessly. First of all it was BIGGER, had better counter tops...though we will be getting rid of the tile. Clean pretty wood cabinets instead of painted sticky (no matter how you cleaned it), etc...

I'm sorry ladies but anyone who has cause to watch drawers open and close needs to check out perseveration - it's a serious condition and you all appear to have the same failing, maybe it's contagious and we've all be infected.So saying, I'll happily nip over for a tutorial 'how to shut a drawer 101.'Cheers

Jordan--it's not a good idea to put hot stuff on it, it can take the heat but it's a matter of area. If only one small area heats (as with setting a hot pan on it) then only that area will expand and you run the danger of developing cracks.

However, I do like that if you get scratches they can be buffed out easily. Corian is DuPont's version of the product but Lowe's also carries Hi-Max, another version which (I've been told) is identical in everything but warranty. In Anchorage Alaska Countertops installs the Corian but others can install Hi-Max. Lowe's told me the warranty wasn't as good as with Corian but it's 15 years, which is still pretty good. It's significantly cheaper (say $600-700 for my kitchen).

What I'd like to see is some concrete. That's the latest rage and it's cheap for materials but expensive for labor. I've heard it's amazingly beautiful but I haven't seen a kitchen with it yet.

Congrats on the new kitchen! I am impressed you survived. One of these days I will have a lovely kitchen, too - one where I can have the dishwasher and fridge open at the same time! Oh, the joys of apartment student living.

Heck...I'd take your old kitchen. Its nicer than the one I have. My sister and her husband just redid their kitchen, and they spent enough on it to get a brand new car! I decided after that that my kitchen would do for me.

I realized when I posted the "before" picture that the kitchen looks pretty darn good. It might make one wonder why I'd want a remodel but that's the thing about it. It looks good from a distance, then you get up close and realize the cabinets are vintage, original, 1978 particle board where the dark finish is peeking through the white paint that had been used to cover them 15 years ago. They're pretty nasty things, you'll just have to take my word on it. There were holes in the backs of them so that you could drop something and have it fall through the hole and down into our crawlspace below.

And yes, Kailani I use the island all the time, it's the center of everything.

I finally got the cooktop actually hooked up tonight (it wasn't wired in when I took that picture) and first thing I did was boil a small pot of water. The thing was amazing, it was instant heat. Came to a boil in under a minute and reacts the second you touch the controls.

I'll have to take a picture of the light fixture. I didn't think I could get a very good picture of it so I didn't take one but maybe I'll have to try it anyway.

Awesome kitchen! Now we wanna see more of what you cook in there. :) Really, the kitchen is beautiful! I'm in the process of remodeling mine but it's a very slow process. It's taking me forever, partially because I have to paint everything with Kilz before repainting it! Anyway, love your kitchen! Enjoy it. :)